4

a bit of background information: my passport does not allow me visa free access to europe nor Schengen so I would need a Visa.

I will be going for around 6 months of exchange in Switzerland - which means a visa 'D'. However, I have no intention of going early so I may go in late February.

The thing is, in (early) January, I am intending to travel to UK and France/Netherlands with some other friends. Obviously I would need a UK Visa. However, regarding the France, would I (or more specifically, Can i ) apply for a Schengen Visa ? Because the validity would overlap into the start of the Swiss Visa 'D'.

-> Because aside from that, I guess the other way is to request for the Swiss Visa 'D' to start earlier (i.e. to start on the day i intend to travel to France).

I'll be requesting a multiple entry visa of course because after the UK/France travel, I will come back to Singapore (i'm not a Singapore passport holder) to stay for another 3 - 4 weeks before I leave for Switzerland.

Tl;dr If I have a Swiss Visa 'D' that starts in say end-Feb, can i apply for a French schengen visa C for early Jan ?

Or can I request for my Swiss Visa 'D' to start in early Jan but I do not enter Switzerland (i.e. use it for my travel to France then back to Singapore, before travelling again to Switzerland come end Feb)

I am not sure if the latter is allowed though.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

If everybody is careful, a C visa could be granted until the day before your D visa starts. At midnight, you stop staying on the C visa and start staying on the D visa.

  • A D visa can be used to travel in the Schengen area like a C visa. The 90/180-day rule will apply for any combination of visa, except for days in the nation that issued the D.
  • If there is an overlap, no harm done.
  • Making your D application more complex by tacking on tourism could increase the likelihood that it will be denied.
  • Getting a C visa may be easier if you already have a D visa for a later date.
Improve this answer
4

Just thought I'd follow up with an update as an answer.

So I finally have settled all the visa stuff. There is an overlap for my case.

I applied for a Schengen 'C' Visa double entry for an 8 days trip - and was given a multiple entry, 6 month validity visa. I asked the consular officers at the embassy if the overlap was an issue & they said it's not seeing that they are 2 different visa types (though the 'D' Visa has been given parity of movement in Schengen).

Anyway yep hope it helps others who might have the same query!

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .